238 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



of most houses among the poorer classes is 

 made of a cement composed of clay, sand 

 and lime, and is hard and smooth when 

 properly prepared, or it is simply the earth 

 pounded down. The wooden floors, even in 

 the better class of houses, are very poor, 

 uneven and unplaned. No carpets are used 

 and seldom is matting spread upon the 

 flooring. Oftentimes there is no ceiling 

 overhead, the room extending to the roof. A 

 large number of Chinese live in boats of 

 various sizes, and in such boats children are 

 born, brought up, marry and die. Even in 

 the houses of wealthy families one seldom 

 sees a glass window, the windows being of 

 wood, though sometimes they have a kind 

 of a transparent shell arranged in rows. 

 When the weather is cold the wooden win- 

 dows are closed and the houses are then 

 very dark inside. When light is needed the 

 windows are partially opened, but this 

 admits the cold as well as the light, and for 

 purposes of ventilation such windows are 

 insufficient. The houses, as a rule, have no 

 fireplaces, furnaces and stoves as in western 

 lands, and as the windows and doors appear 

 never to be tightly fitted one can readily 

 understand how uncomfortable must be a 



